Ceres decreases second quarter losses

Ceres Inc. narrowed its losses but revenues were still low during the second quarter.

The Thousand Oaks-based ag-biotech company said net losses decreased from $8.01 million in the second quarter of 2015 to $1 million in the second quarter of 2016, the company reported April 14. Losses also fell from $1.34 per share last year to 9 cents per share this year during the second quarter and revenues increased from $343,000 to $351,000.

Ceres is in the middle of a transition that is shifting the company’s focus from developing biofuels in Brazil to developing genetically modified crops for use in food and agriculture. Total cost and operating expenses for the second quarter decreased from $8.5 million in 2015 to $3.7 million in 2016.

The company said in a news release it launched additional sorghum products in the second quarter of 2016 after successful field tests in 2013. It is also continuing testing of a sorghum trait the company hopes to produce commercially at an unspecified date.

On Feb. 17, the company got a minor win when the U.S. Department of Agriculture told the company that several corn traits Ceres developed do not need to be regulated under a USDA mandate. On Jan. 22, Ceres was also awarded an Australian patent for a key gene that Ceres has licensed to a multinational crop developer. It covers uses of the gene in crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat among others.

With the exception of 2003, 2005 and 2006, Ceres has not generated a profit since its creation in 1996. As of Aug. 31, 2015, the company had lost $332.1 million in its history. Over the past several years, Ceres cut its staff from 96 to 44. On Feb. 23, it fired its accounting firm KPMG over a going concern clause in its most recent annual report.